China tells Japan to set down historical baggage as 70th anniversary of war end approaches

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, confers with a moderator at a press conference in Beijing, Sunday, March 8, 2015. Wang renewed calls for Japanese leaders to abandon any attempt to water down the nation’s guilt over its World War II aggression against China and others. Wang said that history continues to haunt relations between Beijing and Tokyo. He said Japanese leaders should drop their historical baggage and make a clean break with Japan’s militaristic past. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (The Associated Press)

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi gestures while speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Sunday, March 8, 2015. Wang renewed calls for Japanese leaders to abandon any attempt to water down the nation’s guilt over its World War II aggression against China and others. Wang said that history continues to haunt relations between Beijing and Tokyo. He said Japanese leaders should drop their historical baggage and make a clean break with Japan’s militaristic past. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (The Associated Press)

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi gestures while speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Sunday, March 8, 2015. Wang renewed calls for Japanese leaders to abandon any attempt to water down the nation’s guilt over its World War II aggression against China and others. Wang said that history continues to haunt relations between Beijing and Tokyo. He said Japanese leaders should drop their historical baggage and make a clean break with Japan’s militaristic past. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (The Associated Press)

BEIJING – China's foreign minister has renewed calls for Japanese leaders to abandon any attempt to water down the nation's guilt over its World War II aggression against China and others.

Wang Yi told reporters at an annual briefing Sunday that history continues to haunt relations between Beijing and Tokyo. He said Japanese leaders should drop their historical baggage and make a clean break with Japan's militaristic past.

Japan launched a full-bore assault on China in 1937, withdrawing only after its surrender at the end of World War II in 1945. Many if not most Chinese believe Japan has never shown true contrition for its brutal invasion and occupation.

China intends to mark the 70th anniversary of the war's end with a military parade and other grand commemorations.